Ben Graham was the father of value investing, but what was Benjamin Graham’s net worth when he died?
In theory, it should be a lot. He was an exceptional investor whom a lot of professionals looked up to. But how much was his strategy able to net him in the end?
In this article, I’m going to walk you through how much Benjamin Graham actually accumulated by the end of his life and how he was able to do it.
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What Was Benjamin Graham's Net Worth When He Died?
So, how much did Benjamin Graham actually make? When he passed away in 1976, Benjamin Graham’s net worth was just around $3 million USD.
This seems like a tiny figure. After all, he had been investing since his 20s, actually in the 1920s, and was a very bright thinker. Some called him the Einstein of Money. So, Benjamin Graham’s net worth should have been a lot more. What happened?
Why Benjamin Graham’s net worth was so small
The simple fact was that Graham was not motivated by money. He once told Warren Buffett (who later amassed a net worth of more than $135.8 billion by leveraging Graham’s philosophies) that their wives would live better with more money, but it would have little impact on men like them.
To Graham, it was more of an intellectual puzzle. And, he was far more interested in helping the small investor navigate the financial markets than he was in becoming the next Rockefeller.
So, Graham was certainly wealthy by the time of his death, but throughout his life, Benjamin Graham gave much of his net worth away.
Benjamin Graham’s Net Worth 2025: How Much Would He Be Worth Now?
A net worth around $3 million in 1976 would amount to $16,748,910.37 today. But I guess that’s not what you are getting at.
The real question is how much Benjamin Graham’s net worth would be today if he was able to hold off the Grim Reaper and keep compounding his money.
What would Benjamin Graham’s net worth be today?
Benjamin Graham earned 15% per year for decades, an exceptional record few achieve. These returns surged when he focused his effort on net nets, bringing in about 20% per year. But, with modern tax rates, let’s assume a net 15% per year from 1976 to 2025.
With these assumptions, $3 million compounded at 15% per year on average for 49 years (2025 numbers) would have grown Benjamin Graham’s net worth to just under $3 billion dollars. Unfortunately, Death won, and he didn’t get the chance.
What Stocks Did Benjamin Graham Invest in to Build His Net Worth?
Benjamin Graham started his life with special situations in the bond market, doing all sorts of fancy arbs based on simple mathematics at a time when nobody had considered the approach before.
He later got into activism – trying to bust up conglomerates – which he had some decent success with.
Benjamin Graham’s net worth grew rapidly after discovering this strategy
But, he really hit his stride when he came up with the net net stock strategy, or sub working capital stocks.
In this strategy, he tried to invest in a diversified list of net net stocks, which he defined as current assets minus total liabilities and preferred stock. This value would result in what Graham called “net net working capital,” a conservative assessment of what the company could be liquidated for.
In fact, he had such success with the strategy that he renounced all other forms of investment and just focused on net nets.
Net nets still exist today, and the best resource to find them is Net Net Hunter (click here to get on their list to receive free stock picks).
Would Ben Graham employ the same strategy today to grow his net worth?
But, investors who have come since have embraced other strategies that seem to have worked better. These would be the special situation strategies that we cover here at Event Driven Daily: spin offs, merger arb, special dividends, etc.
Joel Greenblatt, for example, achieved over 40% per year for 20 years, employing Benjamin Graham’s philosophies in the area of special situations.
The problem is that special situations are tough to find, and there’s no single source that will feed you an ongoing stream of new deals. That’s why we put together Event Driven Daily.
Signup for our free Morning Brew newsletter, because we’ll send you each and every single special situation we identify over the course of the month each and every month. Enter your email in the box below.
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